Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Odds and Ends

Another Video Hosting Site
If you’ve been thinking about using video tours to promote listings but have been put off by the cost or complication of pulling it off, take a look at Home On The Tube, a property marketing site. It provides members free video hosting and video streaming and can be used to promote homes, rentals and vacation properties.

Best, this service is aimed at those who want point and shoot simplicity. Here’s instructions to users, pulled from the website. “...pick up your digital camera, set it to "video mode" and begin to shoot the property you have listed. Just ‘walk and talk’ your way through the home; pointing out the best features. A couple of minutes of video is all you need. Then you simply upload your property videos to Home on the Tube for the world to see!”

Video can be that easy. Sample tours others have posted there and judge for yourself.

Mapping and Navigation
Your navigation system is only as good as its map database. If you live in an area where there’s significant development or construction, that digital atlas of streets should be updated annually, at least, Now that advice applies to anyone in an area where local post offices have closed or will be closing offices in the post offices nationwide efforts to streamline oprations.

That could mean zip code changes, and new addresses in rural areas, especially. Out in th country, the city part of an address may not reflect physical location as much as the location of the post office from which mail is delivered. If these changes could affect your market area, you may want to ask the provider of your navigation system if they will also impact your navigation system.
To my knowledge, Maponics is the first to address these changes with the latest release of its Zip Cod based mapping data, but the post office plans could impact all systems, so be vigilant in updating your map database.

While we’re on the subject of navigation, Navigon has added itsTrafficLive feature to its MobileNavigator iPhone application. It provides users with real time traffic alerts to help reduce commute times. It’s available for a one time purchase of $24.99, with no additional service charges. An introductory rate of $19.99 runs through next month.

Right name...
When I did the recent TechWatch column on brokerage management solutions, I tried googling different terms and keywords to find relevant products. Something I do for every story to make sure I don’t miss the obvious.

So you would think a company and website called Broker Office Solutions might pop in the results. Well it didn’t, and a contact there followed up to ask that I include their products in future articles. Click the links to see what they have to offer brokers and agents.

At the very least, this demonstrates the importance of search engine optimization, as the right name alone will not guarantee good ranking in search results.